Percy Lee Bassett

The Bassett family was originally from Danville, Virginia where Percy was born. When he was six years old they moved to Philadelphia and added three more children. The 1940 census shows their mother, Carrie, was now the widowed head of household and her teenage brother was also living with the family at 3437 Mount Vernon Street in the Mantua neighborhood.

Percy attended Overbrook High School and became passionate about boxing. He also became quite good at it, so he dropped out of school to pursue a career in the sport. In 1946 and through the first half of 1947 his hours of practicing paid off by participating in 16 amateur matchups.

Before and after World War II, newspapers in major urban areas sponsored an annual amateur boxing tournament known as the Diamond Belt Championship. The Philadelphia Inquirer was one of them that drew city-wide participation. Percy won the championship in 1947, receiving a belt buckle and this sterling silver lapel pin.

Right after that he made the decision to fight professionally as a featherweight (less than 126 pounds), and won his first bout with a knockout. Over the next year and a half he compiled a perfect record of 25-0 before losing for the first time, an eight-round points loss just before Christmas of 1948.

With just one exception, all of his fights through early 1950 were held in either Philadelphia or Atlantic City. Percy was not only a clean fighter but a clean citizen, and never had any connections with the mob. Unfortunately, that’s why he never had a chance at a title fight. But he kept busy with 35 matches between 1949 and 1952, adding several other cities to his schedule. Three of them in New York were televised.

In early 1953 he had two events in Paris, defeating both opponents by knockouts. One is pictured here. Percy returned to Europe later that year for five more bouts between Thanksgiving and the following Valentines Day, losing just one of them, in Brussels, Belgium.

The Philly pugilist came home to fight only four more contests in 1954, once in Washington, D.C. and three times in New York, winning just one of them. He bounced back in February of 1955 winning two contests in California.

He returned to Paris in April for what would be his last competition. He went down in the first round, shown here, but his opponent went down twice in the ninth. Percy won by a TKO in the 10th. After complaining that his eyes were bothering him, a Paris ophthalmologist found he had a serious case of retina detachment in his right eye and needed surgery. Percy decided to fly home to have the operation at Wills Eye Hospital.

A newspaper reporter broke that news to his wife, Lois, who lived at 5310 Chancellor Street in West Philly with their three pre-school children. His manager mentioned that Percy had been supporting a family of 10, including his two brothers and a sister and their children. He even bought his mother a home out of his ring earnings, but mourned her death just four months before his Paris fight.

His pro boxing career was over, but it was an impressive one. In less than seven years his record stood at 64 wins (41 by knockout), 12 losses, and 1 draw.

Two years later the city took a closer look at Percy’s winnings and filed a suit against him for failing to pay $1500 in “net profits tax.” By their calculations he took home $84,000 in purses that were won just within the city limits from 1948-1955. His manager claimed ignorance of local tax laws.

What the 27-year-old did for a living for the next 36 years is unknown, but the sparring spirit didn’t leave the family. Lois was the sister of a locally known boxer named Von Clay, and one of Percy’s nephews, Gordon Hinton, was in the ring professionally in the late 1980s.

In 1991 a “whatever happened to” item in the sports section revealed Percy was living at the Riverview Nursing Home in northeast Philly. His death two years later made him the sole member of his family to be buried here at Mount Moriah.